uniTy's TDoR

I was invited to talk at the uniTy TDOR tonight, here is my speech.

As we read off the list of names tonight I am reminded of the opening of the Tale of Two Cities.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" 

This year has been a year of amazing leaps in our right and at the same time more anti-trans bills have been passed then ever before!

In Connecticut they passed a bill last year that sneaked us in with its broad language to prevent our medical records being used against us in other states and this year a number of anti-trans bill were blocked. Also in Connecticut they passed a bill creating a special state police unit on bias crimes, mandatory training on investigating bias crimes and a uniform procedure for reporting bias crimes

In Illinois they passed a law banning the banning of books, in Colorado they are trying to pass a bill known as “Protections For Accessing Reproductive Health Care” and in Oregon they passed a bill also protecting our healthcare.

The first trans-candidate is running for Congress in Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride has announced she is run for U.S. House seats and she is leading in the polls. Danica Roem won her election to Virginia's Senate.

There have been victory in the courts, many but not all anti-trans bills have been blocked by the courts. In Idaho a judge blocked the law that denied us healthcare, in Kentucky another judge blocked a ban on healthcare. In the White House the president has signed a number of Executive Orders protecting us and has defended us in court. In Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order protecting the rights of LGBTQ people from Minnesota.

But in the red states we have not been lucky… I don’t think I need to go into detail we all know what has been happening in the Republican states.

We have seen the anger that the politicians have been stirring up.

The Advocate reported that the shooter in Lewiston had retweeted far-right figures and their transphobic views.

The rhetoric coming out of some politicians are stirring up the hate and violence against us, the anti-trans legislation mill has been cranking out bill that want to force us back in the closet. The FBI’s latest crime report puts devastating figures to those feelings, revealing a nearly 33% increase in crimes perpetrated against trans and gender-nonconforming people.

At the same time many states stopped reporting bias crimes to the FBI under the impression that … no news is good news.

What can we do? I always liked what Robin McHaelen says, “If you hear mean, intervene.” we have to take an active part we can no longer sit on our duffs. We cannot let anti-trans Letters-to-the-Editor go unchallenged, we need to let our legislators know we do not approve of anti-LGBTQ legislation. In Connecticut there is a movement to pass a law they make it illegal to ban a book based on protected classes. Those of you in here in Massachusetts and other states have you talked to your legislators about strengthening our laws?

The way to stop the killings starts with changing people views of us. Don’t bother with the MAGA Republicans, go for the undecided voter to convince them to support the trans and the greater LGBTQ community. And don’t forget to thank our supporters.